SW Radio Africa (London)
Tichaona Sibanda
21 August 2008
MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said they will attend the swearing-in ceremony of elected members of parliament and senators next week, although they remain adamant it's still not yet time to convene parliament because of the inconclusiveness of the power-sharing talks.
Biti told Newsreel from Johannesburg on Thursday that they were going to parliament to defend their mandate, saying they had a problem with convening parliament, but not with the swearing-in of members. Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma said MPs and senators were to be sworn in Monday and Robert Mugabe will open the seventh session on Tuesday.
The MDC said it had not agreed or officially discussed the reconvening of parliament after disputed elections earlier this year, claiming it could endanger the mediation talks.
The only time the issue of parliament was brought up was during the closing ceremony of the SADC summit in Johannesburg on Sunday. Incoming SADC chairman, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, said 'the summit recognised that while negotiations were continuing, it may be necessary to convene Parliament to give effect to the will of the people as expressed in the Parliamentary elections held on 29 March 2008.'
Morgan Tsvangirai told journalists in Nairobi, Kenya on Thursday that by convening parliament Mugabe may have decided to abandon the power-sharing talks.
'If President Mugabe goes ahead to convene parliament, appoint a new cabinet, it means he is proceeding to violate the conditions of the MoU which means he may have abandoned the basis for the talks. But we don't know what his intentions are,' Tsvangirai said.
Acting MDC spokesman Tapiwa Mashakada confirmed to Newsreel they were vying for the speakership, as they have the numbers to do so. 'Voting is by secret ballot, so we believe we have the numbers to win the parliamentary speakership,' Mashakada said.
Edwin Mushoriwa, spokesman for the MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara, said it's elected MPs would attend the oath-taking on Monday. 'If we don't attend, Mugabe's MPs would choose the speaker and deputy. We cannot boycott the sitting of parliament,' he said.
There was consensus early in the talks that, as reflected by the results of the 29th March elections, the speaker in the lower house would come from the MDC-T with the deputy coming from the MDC-M. In the upper house, Zanu-PF would choose the senate president as they have the majority.
The seventh session of parliament will in itself herald a new dawn in the politics of the country. This would be the first time that Zanu-PF is not in control of parliament and that the speaker should, for the first time since Independence, come from a party that is not the Zanu-PF.
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Some newspapers like the Zimbabwe Herald had tried to say Tsvangirai and Biti contradicted each other. Tsvangirai merely said the MPs can be sworn in while Biti hinted that Mugabe should not convene Parliament as his legitimacy is still under discussions being done by the three powerful political parties represented in Parliament.